Iraq

Brent crude oil continued to fall for the ninth consecutive session on Thursday as investors turned their attention from supply concerns to demand. The commodity traded at $108.17 at 6:00 GMT following the release of worse than expected US inventory data. Despite data showing that the US...

Brent crude oil continued to tumble on Wednesday as Libya reopened its El Sharara oilfield. The commodity traded at $108.44 at 8:40 GMT as supply concerns eased. CNBC reported that Libya’s National Oil Corp announced that the El Sharara oilfield had reopened after four months of being...

Brent crude oil fell below $110 on Tuesday as supply worries eased and investors turned their attention to demand. The commodity traded at $109.98 at 6:10 GMT, near a one month low as tension about both Iraq and Libya eased. The conflict in Iraq showed no signs of letting up as the nation’s...

U.S. stocks were higher as the back-end of 2014 kicked off. The Dow came within less than two points of reaching the 17,000 mark as investors and traders found plenty of positives in a better-than-expected June auto sales and an expansion in U.S. manufacturing. The S&P 500 also traded at...

Brent crude oil looked poised to fall below $113 and post its largest weekly loss in almost six months. The commodity traded at $113.05 at 7:45 GMT on Friday morning as concerns about a supply interruption in Iraq eased. Iraq’s southern oilfields, which produce the majority of the nation...

While the situation in Iraq continues to intensify on both the political and military fronts, Tuesday's out-of-the-blue decline in the stock market took many investors by surprise. The retreat in prices ended a string of relatively weak advances, and has a lot of folks once again calling...

The euro was steady at $1.3608 at 5:47 GMT on Wednesday morning despite further data from the region which indicated that the economy was struggling. Instead, the common currency found momentum from a testimony by Bank of England chief Mark Carney on Tuesday. Carney told UK lawmakers that the...

Brent crude oil made its way back above $114 on Wednesday as worries about the conflict in Iraq grew. The commodity traded at $114.23 a 6:10 GMT as Iraq's largest refinery remained at the center of a battle between Sunni insurgents and Iraqi forces. The two sides have been fighting for...

Brent crude oil eased back towards $113 on Tuesday as worries about a supply interruption in Iraq subsided. The commodity traded at $113.95 at 6:42 GMT as geopolitical tension around the world looked to be easing. Clashes between fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, or ISIS,...

ETF Outlook for the Week of June 23, 2014 iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index ETF (NYSE: FXI) The HSBC Flash PMI for the month of June in China came in at 50.8, up from 49.4 in May. The number was well above expectations of 49.7 and is back into expansion territory. After the number was...

Brent crude oil continued to climb as the week began and traded at $115.20 at 5:22 GMT on Monday morning, near a nine month high. The commodity was supported by the worsening crisis in Iraq, where the nation's oil supplies looked to be under direct threat. The conflict in Iraq seemed to be...

Traders that have followed the crowd's "consensus" view on what was supposed to happen this year have likely not been having a good year. This is the second consecutive year in which the self-proclaimed masters of the universe have gotten it wrong - very wrong. At the beginning...

Brent crude oil approached a nine month high as fighting in Iraq continued to threaten the nation's supplies. The commodity traded at $114.50 at 8:20 GMT as investors kept an eye out for any new developments in the unfolding crisis. Foreign companies have evacuated their workers from Iraqi...

U.S. stocks rose as investors and traders digested comments from the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve Open Committee announced that it will further taper its asset purchases by another $10 billion. The Fed is now committing towards purchasing $35 billion of assets per month. The Fed also...

The turmoil and violence in Iraq continued unabated on Monday as ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) militants continued on their quest to acquire additional strongholds in northern Iraq. From the market's perspective, the question is whether the situation in Iraq is likely to turn...